Tales of XilliaDoing sub-events back in Leronde after the party gets back together in Chapter 2. I've said most of what I have to say about the game at this point in the game's thread, but I do want to add a few positives and negatives. For positives, even though it's still essential to explore everywhere between every event to get all the sub-events, I do like that you occassionally get a skit to hint at where you can find a sub-event. Subquest logic in Tales games is always hookey, but at least the team seems to be taking steps to make it less so. For negatives, I have to reiterate that the field areas are shit. They just feel so lifeless compared to Graces or even Vesperia's, etc. world maps.

Eternal SonataYeah, I gave in and started playing through the PS3 version I picked up. My memory may not be that great, but even I notice just how much more stunning this game looks on the PS3 than it did on the 360. However, I don't remember the game being nearly this difficult. Monsters taking out a third of my HP in one turn (and that's if I successfully block) with no real efficient way of healing just seems kind of unfair. I'm hoping just because I've played this game before I'm not taking enough time to level up and have just found myself under leveled.

Star Ocean 3As is probably not surprising after seeing this list, I haven't really been playing as much of this as I would like. I'm currently only in the Aqueducts and still having a hard time getting readjusted to the combat.

Good call on Xillia with respect to getting "Side Quest Skits". Those are awesome, especially for a series that's traditionally made those easy to miss.

Eternal Sonata will be a test of figuring out that defense button to be sure. But between the beautiful music, scenery pornography (it's real purdy), and a challenging battle system It was totally a title I put off for waay too long.

Star Ocean 3 is just a hard game. Period. Getting used to the battle system is one of the best things you can do because the game loves do you up the bum on a regular basis. It gets better, slightly, when you can finally create items, but the game also sports some nasty dungeons.

PICROSS JOURNAL:I had to wait 2 hours for a 3 minute appointment. I made a dragon, a unicorn, a cellphone, a kiwi, a rhino, and some other cool beans.

Have you tried equipping Spike Defense gems? Usually when I find myself losing lots of life fast its probably because I'm inflicting the damage to myself from spike damage. Nebula enemies have a tendency of possessing some form of Spike, either inflicting damage or status debuffs. Generally speaking, look for purple damage numbers when attacking, and if you see those and not just from somebody with a Lightning Gem attached to their weapons, then its time to pump up your spike defense.

Also Ether Down and Ether Defense gems should help mitigate the UM's damage output. And it's been a while so I don't quite recall the specifics on that particular UM but I think it might be a rare case of needing Pierce Resistance.

Alternatively, just get either Reyn or Dunban on board and have either one of them use their self revival aura around when you think it'll explode. Even if the hit's fatal, they should bounce right back.

Alternate alternatively, when the UM gets in range of its suicide attack, break out a chain attack with a party with excellent rapport with each other and hope to proc enough follow up attacks to create a 5x chain and drop your biggest damage attacks on it as a finisher. There are a few skills that boost the odds of the party sustaining a chain attack for longer so you might want to spec for that.

I generally keep Ether Defense gems on because I find them helpful. I've got Level 6 gems, which make a difference most of the time. I haven't tried Spike Defense for Nebulae, but I'll give it a whirl, thanks. I managed to get the gems I needed from another nebulae and

Have you tried equipping Spike Defense gems? Usually when I find myself losing lots of life fast its probably because I'm inflicting the damage to myself from spike damage. Nebula enemies have a tendency of possessing some form of Spike, either inflicting damage or status debuffs. Generally speaking, look for purple damage numbers when attacking, and if you see those and not just from somebody with a Lightning Gem attached to their weapons, then its time to pump up your spike defense.

Also Ether Down and Ether Defense gems should help mitigate the UM's damage output. And it's been a while so I don't quite recall the specifics on that particular UM but I think it might be a rare case of needing Pierce Resistance.

Alternatively, just get either Reyn or Dunban on board and have either one of them use their self revival aura around when you think it'll explode. Even if the hit's fatal, they should bounce right back.

Alternate alternatively, when the UM gets in range of its suicide attack, break out a chain attack with a party with excellent rapport with each other and hope to proc enough follow up attacks to create a 5x chain and drop your biggest damage attacks on it as a finisher. There are a few skills that boost the odds of the party sustaining a chain attack for longer so you might want to spec for that.

I generally keep Ether Defense gems on because I find them helpful. I've got Level 6 gems, which make a difference most of the time. I haven't tried Spike Defense for Nebulae, but I'll give it a whirl, thanks. I managed to get the gems I needed from another nebulae and

Code:

restore Colony 6

so it worked out.

I'm still on

Code:

Prison Island and about to fight the Dragon King.

Fair enough. I was kinda wondering why you were going after an optional UM for building materials.

That said, remember what I said about the point of no return being right after a dragon boss. Well there's the boss. After you beat it an elevator/portal will open up. Once you ride that elevator/portal you cannot turn back. Fortunately, there isn't much left of the game at that point so you should be able to make it without the need to save even once after that point. You can also choose to use a separate save file slot which you can overwrite with NG+ data.

Fair enough. I was kinda wondering why you were going after an optional UM for building materials.

That said, remember what I said about the point of no return being right after a dragon boss. Well there's the boss. After you beat it an elevator/portal will open up. Once you ride that elevator/portal you cannot turn back. Fortunately, there isn't much left of the game at that point so you should be able to make it without the need to save even once after that point. You can also choose to use a separate save file slot which you can overwrite with NG+ data.

I kinda figured I was close to the end, but wasn't sure how close exactly.

Fair enough. I was kinda wondering why you were going after an optional UM for building materials.

That said, remember what I said about the point of no return being right after a dragon boss. Well there's the boss. After you beat it an elevator/portal will open up. Once you ride that elevator/portal you cannot turn back. Fortunately, there isn't much left of the game at that point so you should be able to make it without the need to save even once after that point. You can also choose to use a separate save file slot which you can overwrite with NG+ data.

I kinda figured I was close to the end, but wasn't sure how close exactly.

Any recommendations for the boss?

He shouldn't be too hard. He's just a dragon after all. Get some Blaze Defense gems for the fire breath if you're really worried. Otherwise it just hits hard and has a lot of health.

Well the first thing you should know is that you're not going to be fighting just one boss. The good news is that the endgame segment isn't that long and very straight forward. The bad news is that its a boss rush. The first guy you fight is the one you've been chasing throughout the final stage. Discussing about him is a little spoilerish so I'll refrain for now and let you have a go at him. After that is a Megaman style boss refight against the major Mechon bosses (and a Telethia), however the fights are much easier than before since they don't have their gimmicks. And then finally is the final boss himself who pretty much sticks to the final boss playbook, i.e. has two forms, the first is only moderately threatening, and the second gains a couple of super attacks, one of which is designed to be a fight ender but he'll only break it out at the last minute and it kinda acts as a time limit. Now while Shulk isn't necessary for any of this, he does gain a weapon upgrade during the final fight (but its not essential since the boss is perfectly beatable without it and Shulk can still use it during the entirety of NG+). And remember that the penalty for losing during this game barely even qualifies as a slap on the wrist so don't worry about retrying, you'll pick up right before the fight you lost on even if you lose during the final boss's second form, you'll still be able to pick up right up from the start of that form. Also you'll be earning extra EXP, AP, and SP just from the landmark discoveries located in the final sequence (as well as from the fights themselves), so don't forget to max out your abilities to as high as you can afford.

The tl;dr though is that this final boss sequence should generally be treated like any other final boss sequence. Bring your best and just go all out.

Is Xenoblade as FFXIIish as it sounds? In terms of just running around big, empty areas?.

But the combat system is much, much better.

Also the areas are not empty.

Though you don't get to program your allies AI you can at least set their Arts Pallet to use what you want them to use. Thankfully though they can't waste items as there are no expendable items in this game (aside from Ether Crystals/Cylinders which are used up when making Ether Gems/Cylinders, Collectables which you can either register to fill out your Collectapedia for items and other bonuses, trade to NPCs for items, equipment, and other Collectables that you may want/need, and gift to your party members for the sake of improving relationships/earning chievos, and Arts Manuals which teach you new Arts or allow you to further improve them, and all of those are from the menu).

Err, basically there are no items that you need to buy 20 of in case of needing to heal status effects, to revive fallen allies, or to chug right outside the boss's chamber (and again after the inevitable random encounter that you run into after taking one step from where you were when you were prepping for the boss fight).

Anyway, should go play more Ys 2 and figure out how to do Ys-style combat in RPGMVXA just for the sake of being a dick.

Also, something I didn't notice in Amalur until like /just now/ for some reason, but I really like all the little 'actions' NPCs have. You can see them working at craft benches or reading or just doing things. It's a nice touch. It makes the setting feel really alive. And I think it's why Oblivion still felt so dead, even with NPC schedules, 'cause NPCs could like, sweep, rake, or eat chicken.

« Last Edit: August 17, 2013, 01:16:47 AM by MeshGearFox »

Logged

o/` I do not feel joy o/`o/` I do not dream o/`o/` I only stare at the door and smoke o/`